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Kathmandu Tuesday August 07, 2001 Shrawan 23, 2058.
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Void citizenship certificates
to be replaced: Home Minister
KATHMANDU, Aug 6 (PR) – The 34,000
citizenship certificates declared void by the Supreme Court would be replaced, said Home
Minister Khum Bahadur Khadka in Parliament today.
Minister Khadka said that Nepali citizens
holding citizenship certificates which the apex court decided should be cancelled citing
procedural shortcomings will be provided with their citizenship certificates through the
right procedures within one month of receiving notification of the cancellation decision.
Few days back the court had declared void about
34,000 citizenship certificates issued four years ago under the instruction of the then
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam. But it is yet to pass the final
judgement.
He said those having completed the process for
the citizenship would be issued new citizenship certificates.
Many of these people have already used the
certificate to get jobs or buy property and now with the certificates revoked, they could
face major difficulties and so would the administration.
The Home Ministry has already issued a directive
to Chief District Officers of twenty districts not to entertain those citizenship
certificates distributed and even take away those certificates.
Four years ago, the government had formed 87
teams who were given authority to distribute citizenship certificates to about 3.4 million
people of which about 34,090 people were given the certificates.
The court however had ruled that only about
4,000 of them would be valid as they were issued by the Chief District Officer (CDO).
Under the present law it is the CDO in each district who are responsible for issuing these
documents. The court had declared the distribution illegal saying that there was no legal
provision to form such a team and distribute the citizenship certificate.
The move from the Supreme Court had prompted the
lawmakers from Nepal Sadbhawana Party to boycott the House proceedings demanding the
government take up the issue. They also alleged discrimination against the people of the
Terai when it came to issuing citizenship certificates, which is a fundamental right of
every citizen of this country.
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